A light-heavyweight fight between Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Volkan Oezdemir has been confirmed for UFC Fight Night 129 on May 19th in Santiago, Chile.
After a rough spell in which he won only once in five fights between 2012-2014, ‘Shogun’ has gone on to win his next three fights in a row, albeit while only competing once a year.
Along the way he’s earned decision victories over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Corey Anderson, plus most recently TKO’d Gian Villante back in March of last year.
After being out of action for over a year again, the 36-year-old will now go up against Oezdemir, who has been far more active in recent times.
The 28-year-old Oezdemir racked up four fights in his first year in the promotion, taking the division by storm with his initial trio of victories, including a decision win over Ovince Saint Preux, followed by first minute KO’s of both Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa.
That swift rise to prominence led to Oezdemir being granted a title shot against current champion Daniel Cormier back in January, but that proved to be too much too soon and he was TKO’d in the second round.
Shogun Vs Oezdemir is the highest profile fight currently announced for the UFC Fight Night 129 event, which will be the first ever UFC show to take place in Chile.